Glasgow 2014: Kirsty Gilmour tipped as badminton's top hope of a Commonwealth Games medal

Bothwell's Kirsty Gilmour has been tipped as one of Scotland's top Commonwealth Games medal hopes in badminton

Badminton star Kirsty Gilmour will shoulder the responsibility of chasing down a Commonwealth Games medal for Scotland.

The Bothwell ace looks our best bet to be standing on the podium when the gongs are handed out.

Kirsty is the second highest ranked player in the singles following the withdrawal of defending champion Saina Nehwal.

That has raised expectations of a medal performance from the 20-year-old – and she’s ready to step up to the plate to meet the badminton squad’s target of winning at least a silver medal over the 11 days of competition.

And BADMINTONscotland performance manager Gareth McKenna reckons Kirsty could be one of the stars who brings home the glory.

He said: “We’ve got a target for a silver medal, and that has to be what we’re aiming for. I think our best opportunities are with Kirsty Gilmour in the women’s singles and Imogen Bankier and Robert Blair in the mixed doubles.

“Our outside opportunities are in women’s doubles and the team events, but that is more difficult.”

Gareth has been impressed with Kirsty’s progress from a shy but ambitious 17-year-old at the Delhi Games to a woman ranked 17th in the world and second in the Commonwealth.

He said: “Kirsty is ranked 17 in the world and that’s great, but there are players above her who are taking part in the Games.

“Another thing we have to guard against is being too arrogant – Kirsty is second in the Commonwealth but there are players around her who are competing.

“However, Kirsty is one of the most talented athletes we’ve produced for a long time, which is a good foundation to work on.

“She has developed well since Delhi and has taken on and beaten some of the top 10 players in the world which shows how much effort and concentration she has put into the sport.

“The target is a silver medal, but that will depend a lot on the draw. There will be a lot of pressure on the games, from the quarter-final onwards, and if you look back at Delhi 2010, the medals went to players in the top three in the world. That level of performance will be no different in Glasgow, so we need to be on top of our game.

“Let’s not kid ourselves on, we won’t be happy unless we win a medal, because we have put so much time and effort into this. There’s no shying away – we have to deliver.”

Gareth expects a passionate home crowd to get right behind Team Scotland’s efforts – but hopes that doesn’t count against the athletes at times.

He explained: “It’s fabulous having the Games in Scotland. We had the Scottish Grand Prix at the Emirates Arena and a couple of thousand people turned up, which gave the players some good experience.

“We need to be careful though; the ambition is simply to go in and win badminton matches, but we need to make sure we don’t get carried away by the passion of it all. We need to make sure we don’t get too wrapped up; when you’ve got a couple of thousand people supporting you it’s human nature to get wrapped up a bit, so there will be a lot of pressure on players.

“Imogen has some experience of that, having taken part in the London Olympics back in 2012, but for some of the rest of our players this will be a new experience, but hopefully a great one.

“As we all know, Scottish fans are very passionate and have their expectations, but people forget that for our players the average age is 23 or 24, and Kirsty is only 20, so it’s a really young team. It bodes well for us to have them together for this, and going forward.